I Stand Here Ironing Analysis

I stand here ironing was written by Tillie Lerner Olsen and published in 1961. Ironing is a kind of metaphor, the things which were flattened were not only drapes on the clothes but also reflected the progress of pushing the knot, facing to the truth.

The author, Tillie Olsen, was born in a working family and grew up with six sisters and brothers. As she started working, America fell into Great Depression. The conditions of working class life, raising a family and activism did not permit Olsen to pursue her writing for many years, and she continued to keep notebooks and to write on tiny slips of paper, "capturing voices, words, thoughts" in the small moments she could. While Tillie started writing, her work has been known as powerful and

When Emily was young, her mother was forced to work hard to support the family and she was sent to her grandparents’ home. It was two years old when Emily was taken back to home again. Without her mother’s accompanying and love, Emily didn’t know how to express her feelings. We could discover this from following passage that Emily unrequited love with a boy and she stole money to buy candies for him in order to show her love. She was not good at speaking. When she lived in the convalescent home, “The parents stand below shrieking up to be heard and the children shriek down to be heard, and between them the invisible wall ‘Not to Be Contaminated by Parental Germs or Physical Affection.’” The wall stopped parents showing love to their children and prevented children from feeling love. It is hard to think what a child will be if she is in serious illness and can’t get caring from parents. Finally, she became cynicism that she said that she didn’t care about the homework and coming test because people will be likely to die of bomb blast in following years. In general, the social situations forced Emily’s mother made choice and the choice lead to the formation of Emily’s

Because of Great Depression, parents have a tremendous pressure, supporting their family, feeding their children. As the price of survival, they are forced to abandon time with their children which means the child grow up with loneliness and unloving. "Can 't you go some other time, Mommy, like tomorrow?" she would ask. "Will it be just a little while you 'll be gone? Do you promise?" The time we came back, the front door open, the clock on the floor in the hall. She rigid awake. "It wasn 't just a little while. I didn 't cry. Three times I called you, just three times, and then I ran downstairs to open the door so you could come faster. The clock talked loud. I threw it away, it scared me -- what it talked." Emily was growing up in this situation and it caused incorrect outlook on life. In I stand here ironing, Emily didn’t want to study just because of a ridiculous reason that people will be likely to die of bomb blast in following years. In marigolds, the girl choose to destroy Ms. Lottie’s glaring marigolds because her father couldn’t find a job and lost hope to life. On the other hand, we couldn’t ignore Emily’s mother, as she played the decisive role in the changing of Emily. In such statements as "my wisdom! Came too late," the story verges on becoming an analysis of parental guilt. With the